The lettuce I planted in the cold frame last fall is doing well...now. This was the first winter we had the cold frame. It didn't do much over the winter, but the mache, kale, spinach and lettuce are finally ready to eat.
The Hubs snagged this beauty (Mantis Dual-Chamber compost spinner) for me off Craig's list last summer. It works like a dream! Loving the dual-chamber system that allows finishing off a batch of compost while starting another. It's been a bit of trial and error ~ including one batch of slime (too much grass not enough browns). A mixture of maple leaves, grass clippings, sawdust, chicken plops, kitchen scraps (including lots of coffee grounds, mashed egg shells, greens, banana peels, etc.) DOES make beautiful compost!!
Emptied out one barrel of the spinner and started another batch of lettuce with it in the cold frame.
The re-purposed windows for the cold frame are going to need a little bit of TLC this spring. The heat ( it hit 100 degrees in there last week when it was 16 degrees outside ) and humidity have caused the interior paint to peel off.
We've planted some lettuce, chard, spinach, and radishes under a hoop in the raised bed by the garden after adding the compost. Really want to look into producing a larger volume of greens throughout the winter. Just starting to read Eliot Coleman's winter harvest book and my wheels are spinning!
Is anyone out there having luck with cold weather crops under hoop beds?